Via Matthew Nisbet, I read this NPR transcript from a show discussing the recent Pew poll that had climate advocates wringing their hands in disbelief. The NPR conversation between Pew’s Andrew Kohut and Yale researcher Anthony Lieserowitz is a worthwhile read for anyone who seriously wants to engage with those poll results.

The bottom line: concern about climate change has lessened– at this juncture– because of the economy, the weather (perhaps that cool summer), and Marc Morano, probably in that order of significance. (Nobody points to Morano, specifically, but if you read the transcript, you’ll see that part of the blame for that waning public concern is attributed to the “well amplified message” of the “climate-change-dismissive community,” which makes me wonder if I underestimated the power of that when I wrote this.)

Anyway, I’m just giving the main thrust I gleaned from the NPR transcript. Read it for yourself. I bet you’ll find it illuminating.

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About Keith Kloor

Keith Kloor is a NYC-based journalist, and an adjunct professor of journalism at New York University. His work has appeared in Slate, Science, Discover, and the Washington Post magazine, among other outlets.
From 2000 to 2008, he was a senior editor at Audubon Magazine.
In 2008-2009, he was a Fellow at the University of Colorado’s Center for Environmental Journalism, in Boulder, where he studied how a changing environment (including climate change) influenced prehistoric societies in the U.S. Southwest.
He covers a wide range of topics, from conservation biology and biotechnology to urban planning and archaeology.